Interesting reading

[Gail]

For almost a year, my son Kevin has been working in Liberia for an NGO

He has a most interesting blogsite! His account of his adventures has been noticed by a radio station in Boston and his URL included as a link on many other sites

I've asked for prayer for him from the moderators but have not been anxious to share much publicly about his exploits until now

If you are willing, please remember Kevin from time to time in your prayers. He seems to have fun much of the time but it is a volatile area with much aid work still needed.

His blogsite:

For a good read

[Halfstep Denise]

What is NGO, Gail?

Your son will be put on my prayer list. How exciting and frightening at the same time!

Thank you for the link to his blog. I hope he won't mind if I read it!

Halfstep Denise

[Gail]

NGO is a non-governmental organization such as World Vision or UNICEF

The one Kevin works for is called Equip Liberia. There is a parent company to this, Equip Canada

I'm sure he would appreciate some comments as well as your reading it! <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Nicodema]

Oh my ... his poor EAR!!! *GASP!*

And all that garbage .... oy vey!!! I had no idea Liberia was like that.

[Gail]

Many of the photos that Kev takes incorporates the children. He loves the children!

The one pic of the garbage pile with the kid in the foreground is such a striking irony. I love it!

[Nicodema]

He is pretty good with a camera if that's all his photo work. What an incredible life! You must be VERY proud of him. I wish I could do something interesting and useful like that.

[Gail]

I think I am living vicariously through him right now. I will never get such an opportunity

[Pockey]

Great blog Gail! You raised a wonderful son.

[Gail]

* Warning- shocking story.

Here is an e-mail message that Kev sent us today:

Hello all.

Here's a pretty amazing story from my friend Seren of a guy that she works with and works on (she's a physiotherapist on the Mercy Ship). There are thousands of stories like this...this is only one that has been written up...

Kevin Fryatt

Finance & Reporting Manager

EQUIP Liberia

Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

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George Sumo.

George is forty six years old from the Kpetty tribe in Liberia. His mother died when he was two. He was raised by his father and step-mother in the upcountry village of Yeakai. He moved in with his aunt after 6th grade and finished high school with her. He did not have the money to continue his education from a school. The education he got instead will change your life.

Be dressed and ready for service and keep the lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. Luke 12:35-36

The war broke out in 1992 and George's father raised cattle and pigs. The rebels came to his village in the middle of the night with flashlights and big sticks. They were looking for provisions and wanted to slaughter the animals to feed themselves. Four of the animals were pregnant and George pleaded with the rebels not to kill them so he could continue to provide

for the family even with the loss of all the other livestock.

For three hours the rebels mercilessly tied up George and beat him with sticks and the blunt side of machetes like he was nothing. When he finally fell they stomped on him. Beaten and bloodied he watch as they killed all the animals. They put the bloody carcasses into a bag and forced him to carry it on his head for one and a half days down a dusty road in the steaming equatorial jungle.

Already beaten nearly to death he somehow mustered the strength for the march. He still stumbled and when he did the rebels would start beating him again and mocking him. They had completely dehumanized him. The rebels dragged him from the camp and left him at the side of the road weeping and bleeding. He could barely stand when a man passed him on the side of the road. The man, like a 'Good Samaritan', carried George on his back toward home for some time until he had some strength. George ended up crawling the rest of the way home through the jungle on his hands. The thick smoke permeated the forest and the fires left a smouldering pile where George's village had been just two days before. His wife and children had fled into

the jungle and escaped harm through the ordeal. Six of the other villagers were killed by the rebels. The next day the Government burned the village because they claim the village was helping to supply the rebels. The Liberian Army soldiers interrogated George's wife and then cut her arms with a machete when they said she was lying. In the village next to George's a

man was making soap and the rebels thought he was making liquor and they wanted it. The man told them he was only producing soap. The commander dipped his cup in the lye and forced the man and his two young sons to drink it. The acid burned inside them and the boys both died that day as their father watched. Other villagers tried to give him palm oil to sooth the burn

but he suffered for two more days until he died. They had nothing left except each other. George and his wife decided that the only way to preserve the family was to walk ten days to the Ivory Coast to flee the fighting.

There was no food and no good water during the trek and they barely reached the Ivory Coast. Hungry and alone in a foreign country George could not work for the first month or so because of the beatings he had received.

George eventually found work making charcoal and they lived in Ivory Coast for eight years until war broke out there in 2000.

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The Sumo Family.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:35-36

George, his wife, and children, George Jr., Patient, Layda, and Joy returned to Liberia in 2000 and lived in a camp for internally displaced refugees. In the IDP camp conditions were horrifying. There were 11,000 refugees living in extremely tight quarters. The entire family was given a 12x10 tent to live in. Each person was rationed miniscule amounts of food and the men

had to go into the bush to forage for food. Disease abounded and living conditions were becoming worse by the day as more and more refugees arrived in the camp.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8

When George Jr. was fourteen years old they were still living in the camp and he started to have severe pain in his eye. There was swelling and no money for doctors. George heard about Mercy Ships and begged a man from another NGO to carry his family to Monrovia. The man said he and George Jr were the only ones he could transport. George couldn't stand to see his family separated so he appealed to the man again. Upon seeing George Jr's condition the man agreed to take them. George's son only had sight in one eye at this point because the cancer had pushed it out of the socket and they waited in line for four days before the screening. A lady from the ship saw his son and made sure he was registered immediately. George was told that his son had malignant cancer on his brain stem and that he did not have

long to live. He was crushed. They kept George Jr. on the ward and gave him food and pain medication for two months until he died on April 25, 2005.

Mercy Ships paid for the funeral and gave George a job on the ship as a day worker in the Galley. When the ship left last June, George worked in Monrovia to try and raised the funds to put his other children through school.

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship in the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in the spirit and purpose. Philippians 2:1-2

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George Jr's modest grave.

George's wife's parents died this year and left the Sumos some land just outside of Monrovia. He has not been able to build and finally have a home for his family. Their current living conditions are better than the IDP camp but are still deplorable by our standards. His small "house" is a one room brick structure lent to him by a distant relative. The inside is cramped and uncomfortable. The family all sleep in the room on the floor. There is no electricity and no potable water nearby.

The Sumos have to go to the market just to buy clean water to drink. A small shower area is next to the house hidden behind rusty roofing. George's relative is returning soon and they must vacate the current living area by the end of March. If you ask George about the prospect of having his own house he beams. A smile so wide comes across his face you can't help but smile with him. He will tell you that a house to him means freedom and a blessing from God. George has carried a heavy burden on his back for the last twelve years. While his back has been broken, his spirit is still faithful.

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George's Current House.

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The Inside of George's Current House.

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The Shower area.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27

The Galley has been doing fundraisers on the ship to secure the meagre $1,800 that it will take to build George his home. A modest brick structure with five hundred square feet of floor space will finally give George some security and a place to raise his family. We currently have almost $800 of it and it will only take a week to build once we have all the money.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word and does not do what it says is like a man who looks in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting

what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25

[Gail]

I have not heard from my son for quite a few days now. He hasn't been on MSN Messenger, as is his custom. His blog has not been updated in a week

The exiled Liberian ex-dictator, Charles Taylor, has escaped from where he was kept in Nigeria, in order to escape being extradited to Liberia to be tried for war crimes. In the past there have rumours that he will try to rouse up another army and again take Liberia

Here is the latest Reuters article about the present situation:

Taylor- where is he?

I would like to at least hear from Kevin- could you please pray that I would get a call or that he would get online so that we can reach him? Communication (and everything else) is so chancey over there...

<img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Nan]

Praying, Gail

[Nan]

Wonder if this will make any difference, Gail.

War crime accused Taylor arrested

March 29, 2006 - 8:54PM (Sydney Morning Herald)

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes by a court in Sierra Leone, was arrested in northern Nigeria on the border with Cameroon, police said.

The arrest comes a day after Nigerian authorities said Taylor had disappeared from the villa in southeastern Nigeria where he has lived in exile since he stepped down in 2003 as part of a deal to end 14 years of civil war in Liberia.

"He was arrested in Borno state, at the Cameroon border, in the early hours of this morning. He's in the custody of security agencies in Borno," said police spokesman Haz Iwendi.

Police in Borno said Taylor was detained at the Gamboru-Ngala border crossing, a remote outpost in the arid northeast.

[Nicodema]

Wow, Gail, I hope you hear from Kevin soon.

Are they still collecting monies for that guy's house? I'd like to help! Where can I send a donation to?

[Gail]

Thanks, Nan-

When I woke up this morning, I saw the report that he had been captured near the northern border

I am relieved! I have still not heard from Kev, but at least I can rest assured that the rebels (for there still are those in the countrysides) won't make trouble, as long as Taylor is in custody

I don't know if it was Providential or not that the Nigerian president was just hours from meeting with U.S. president Bush (they are meeting today) to talk an oil deal. The press made it sound like the Americans might even not have talked at all if this matter hadn't been cleared up first. Bush has been pushing for a U.N.-based tribunal in Sierra Leone to try this guy.

Thanks for prayers yet again!! <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Gail]

Nico, about George's house...

Please try to contact Kevin about this. George was being helped through the Mercy Ships program and he can put you in touch with them. I'll PM you Kev's e-mail address. I think he was helping someone else sponsor a family over there, someone who was following his blog

[Gail]

More information about Mr. Charles Taylor, warlord and ex-dictator... This gives you some insight as to how an African country goes wonky and thousands of lives get martyred:

Captured and arrested

[Jeannieb43]

Oh, Gail. I didn't know about this before. I'm praying for Kevin. This is a terribly difficult time for you.

[Gail]

This recent bruhaha just started yesterday. As long as this man is in custody somewhere things should be okay

I will feel better once I hear from Kev himself. I prefer to get news from the ground level

[Naomi]

Gail,

Kevin has been on my prayer list for so long ... I will be much relieved when he is safe back home.

For now I am praying that you hear from him very soon. This has to be a major worry!

Naomi

[Stan]

Thursday AM any up date Gail?

[Gail]

Still haven't heard <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Gail]

Well, we have located Kevin, finally <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Seems he was out of town in the Ganta region for a while.

His friend from London tells me that a very reliable source has told him that Kevin may have a love interest that is distracting him from his blog AND from his mom!!!

[Nan]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Gail said:

Well, we have located Kevin, finally <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Seems he was out of town in the Ganta region for a while.

His friend from London tells me that a very reliable source has told him that Kevin may have a love interest that is distracting him from his blog AND from his mom!!!

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Good news and thank God Kevin is safe, Gail.

But that last part is a worry isn't it - well away from your scrutiny too <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.